Did God Really Create Good and Evil?

by Joshua Tilghman on July 16, 2012

Did God really create evil? This is the question I want to address in today’s post. It is a question that has plagued mankind since the beginning of our journey, and since it’s not going away anytime soon, I think it’s an honest question that deserves quite a bit of pondering.

The Bible emphatically states that God created evil.

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7).

But what did the Biblical author mean by “evil?” I must caution you: there’s a lot more depth and breadth to this concept and verse than first meets the pondering mind. Embedded within those words is the answer to one of self awareness’ biggest mysteries. It is a shame, however, that mainstream Christianity cannot provide a truly satisfying explanation to such a powerful Biblical verse. The concept of God creating evil is usually ignored until tragedy strikes, and then raw emotions explode and wreak havoc on our understandings of God, life, and the universe. Totally shocked, we are then left with only one question:

Why, God?

But this question leads to more suffering and need not be necessary if we only unveil one of the awesome revelations of creation in the poignant words of Isaiah 45:7.

In order to properly understand that verse, we have to know why God created life in the first place. And this is where a fundamental flaw in the mainstream Christian mindset exists: God did not create us to love and cherish. God created us so that we could love and cherish. The emphasis is on us. We are the limited extensions of his infinite nature, and we are the vehicles through which God experiences and grows. This becomes so blatantly obvious when we see all of the Biblical examples where God limits himself to the human experience. To understand this is to understand the esoteric depth of the Bible.

We must wake up and look around. Who is it reading these words? Who is it that has the ability to be consciously aware of the question we are pondering in this post? It’s you! And guess what? There’s nothing wrong with that! God has given you this life!

Religion has taught us to look to another source as the reason and answer to our existence, when all the time is should be so blatantly obvious that the reason and answer for your existence is you! And that’s acceptable to God.

I hope you’re ready for this next statement, because it is as equally blunt. To ask God “why” about anything is totally unfair to God. Yes, that’s right. Totally! And that’s also why you cannot “search” for God outside of yourselves. You will not find him there! This is also the reason you will not find an answer to your experiences “outside” of yourself: there is no reason there! All events in life that happen outside of you are just fleeting moments that pop into and out of existences from the spirit of infinite potential. So if you must ask why, you must take the journey within yourself. The journey to truth lies within you.

Now that we have established this life is about you, and that it’s totally okay, how can we justify Isaiah 45:7 as it compares to you?

Let’s look at the first portion of this verse again:

“I form the light, and create darkness…”

Here lies the true essence for both portions of this verse. “Light” and “darkness” are the polar opposites to the spectrum of experience. It is the potential between these polar opposites which make experiences possible! Without darkness, there is no revelation of the light. If all was light, what would you see or experience? If all was darkness, what would you see? It is the infinite number of potential perspectives one can take between the two that gives rise to individual experiences. This is the purpose for darkness and it is the reason why the Biblical authors make it clear to us that God is also in the darkness.

I now want to suggest to you that we view the second portion of Isaiah 45:7 in the same light.

“…I create peace, and create evil…”

The verse does not mean that God is responsible for peace and evil in the same way that religion has taught us to think of as “peace” and “evil.” That would be silly. “Good” and “evil” are just labels that our ego assigns to experiences. To say that God created “good” and “evil” in the way we have been conditioned to believe would be to attribute an ego to God! God has no ego for God is beyond the ego. If you are following me, then you should also know that when we attribute anything to a God (outside of ourselves) we are being unfair to ourselves. Why? Because when we put it on God, we take the responsibility off ourselves and therefore forfeit our soul the chance to BE. To do this is to perpetuate suffering and the unconscious experience. It is the true meaning of idolatry!

And what’s the remedy? To realize that this…life…is…about…you!

And if this life is about you, why are you going to an outside God for your answers? Don’t you know that God is within you? And if God is experiencing through you, don’t you realize that you and God are ONE beyond these seemingly individual and separate experiences?!

As Jesus said:

“That they all may be one; as thou, father art in me, and I in thee, and they also may be one is us…” (John 17:21).

So the issue is not good and evil; it is about life as it is experienced by you, and what the soul chooses to BE as a result. God provides polar opposites on the infinite spectrum of experience simply so that you can have the chance to BE. And through that God IS! So all experience becomes one with the divine and is to be respected as such!

Do you not see that when you understand the concept of good and evil from this light, it becomes pointless to judge? Only then can we begin to understand what Jesus meant when he instructed us not to label another person as “right” or “wrong.”

So know that God did not create “good” and “evil” as mainstream Christianity understands these concepts today. Religion did, and then all of the institutional church leaders and congregation members who do not understand the deeper esoteric meaning of the Bible have blindly perpetuated it!

So what did God create when he made the light and the darkness and the opportunity to experience peace or to experience suffering? God created the opportunity for BEING. And you are a grand part of this infinite journey. And so is everyone and everything else. So what gives us the right to judge? No one. Certainly not God! It would be against the nature of God to judge.

So in truth, God did not create “good” and “evil.” God gave you the opportunity to create and then experience peace or suffering, and either one is your choice. Neither is right or wrong, but they are either joyous or painful. So what will you sow? Peace and joy, or pain and suffering? Since it’s about you, only you have the ability to choose and BE. And it is up to you to Judge it, not anyone else.

So how does this knowledge benefit you? For one thing, become consciously aware of what you want to experience in this life. Then don’t be afraid to become that. You don’t have to fear God rejecting this desired experience because there is someone in the sky to judge it right or wrong. Just make sure you are willing to reap what you so, because if you sow suffering for someone else you will reap the same also. Always sow what will benefit mankind and you can’t go wrong.

I hope this post has cleared up Isaiah 45:7 and how it relates to the human condition. Please feel free to comment and spread this post.

This is an amazing post. You touch upon many essential keys along the spiritual path. Thank you for reminding us to take responsibility. To me, this becomes easy when we feel empowered again. I personally believe that religion perpetuated good and evil as a way to control us. How freeing it feels to let it go. ~Suzy

Evil is ra in Hebrew. When you turn it around you get er, which means awake. So the polar end of evil gives you the opportunity to turn things around and wake up. Usually the people who suffered most and have learned from it become the wisest and most benign beings.

Your post brought to mind a thought I tossed around for a while when I was younger. What if this life, and everything in it, is just an illusion created by the brain? What if there is no you and there is no me there is only God, and God is experiencing life a countless number of times each time as a different person? This would mean that all truly are one because there is only one, all else is a mask that he wears. The bible shows us that God exist outside of our definition of time (he is the Alpha and Omega, Christ was crucified before the foundation of the world, David speaks of grace and mercy before grace and mercy were supposedly available). If that is the case then everyone could be apart of the God “Timeline”.

I have been listening to a sermon here lately on Ecclesiastes, which goes on to state that Solomon found life to be meaningless (like chasing the wind) without God. If all is God, and only God truly exist, then seeking anything apart from him would be meaningless as it does not exist (it would be like searching for a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow). At first this thought was disturbing to me, why would God do such a thing, and then it hit me, like this and many of your other post state, God wants experience. The fact that my ego gets to be a part of that experience is greatly comforting and humbling. I AM GOD’S CHOSEN AND SO ARE YOU! Therefor, live like the chosen of God and be that which he whats to experience in this life!

I found this today and thought anyone on this site would find it interesting.

It appears that there are a group of scientist that agree that the God is in each of us, those words are not used of course but the idea is the same. It is called the Hologram Paradigm and in a nutshell states that the Universe is a Hologram and that the flesh (EGO) is also a hologram created by the mind. It appears that each of our senses are capable of picking up on more frequencies than is general believed. This would imply that what we see as the universe is the hologram being interpreted by consciousnesses and that since there is a general consensus on what is “real” that there is also a subconscious that flows beneath the conscious that connects all of mankind.

I saw your comment this morning and I think there is a lot of truth in it. It is a mind boggling idea. Personally I saw a couple of programs about it on TV but also a series called The Holographic Universe on the internet. There I had to look for a next instalment every time but the link beneath should give a complete overview. I did not see it yet but I think it is interesting.

Goodness gracious Joshua!!! Your posts are life-changing. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. In my 43 years up till now, I would not have been ready for these teachings of yours. I was so heavily indoctrinated by religion that when I heard any variation of the literal interpretation of scripture I would scream “blasphemy!!!” in my mind. It began falling away little by little a couple of years ago. Now, upon reading these posts and comparing them to the same bible that had me so ego-bound through misinterpretation, I not only grasp what my holy-book really means, but I get the truths at the core of other belief systems. I will never see things the same way again. It is much easier to love others when you see a bigger picture. Thank you for your work.